F6S looking to tap Kerala, Maharashtra govt's startup initiatives

F6S wants to digitise these initiatives by bringing them on one platform and creating accessibility for startup founders.Varsha Bansal | ET Bureau | August 16, 2016, 07:16 IST

F6S, an online platform for founders, startups, incubators and accelerators, has recently on-boarded a cofounder to expand rapidly in India.

It plans to approach state governments and bring them on to the platform so that startups can access the government’s startup initiatives, creating in the process accessibility, accountability and transparency.

The government has launched various initiatives and reimbursement policies for startups. However, what is lacking is accessibility to these initiatives for startup founders to take advantage of.

“Governments say they will reimburse the money spent on patents and trademarks, but they still don’t have a mechanism for it,” said Santosh Yellajosula, cofounder of F6S.

“Founders waste a lot of time applying for these and since the entire process is so tedious, most of them end up giving up on these advantages,” he said.

F6S wants to digitise these initiatives by bringing them on one platform and creating accessibility for startup founders. Yellajosula is currently in talks with the Kerala and Maharashtra governments to make them a part of F6S.

“We want to provide the government with data. This data will help them take better startup-related decisions, which will lead to better startup policies,” said Yellajosula. F6S has already tried something similar in the United Kingdom, where the startups were facing trouble claiming the research and development tax credit being offered by the UK government.

The platform currently has about 22,000 startups and 65,000 founders from India and it recently added Dubai government to its online community. The platform wants to get rid of the barriers of borders so that startups can have access to international incubators, accelerators and investors.